Jointly sponsored by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Society of Actuaries, and CIA, this webcast will present research that compares the risk profiles of pension plans in the UK, the US, and Canada.

At the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

• Identify the key items that affect the financial risk of a defined benefit pension plan;
• Compare the financial risk implications of different pension plan designs; and
• Evaluate the impact of alternative asset mix policies on the financial risk of a pension plan.

Economic capital, the 0.5th percentile result of a stochastic projection, is the primary risk measure employed. The research examines not only the difference in economic capital requirements between typical plans in the three countries, but also its sensitivity to changes in asset allocation, contributions, and starting funded status. This webcast is part of a wider international research programme, co-sponsored by the IFoA, looking into the impact ageing populations have on asset values over long time periods and considering the potential impact on large pension plans in Canada, the UK and the United States. The research is being conducted by the University of Waterloo (Canada) and the University of Kent (UK). Further details about the research can be found here.

Speakers: Stephen Bonnar (FCIA), University of Waterloo 
Aniketh Pittea and Pradip Tapadar, School of Mathematics, Statistics & Actuarial Science, University of Kent